The Cowboys need upgrades at several key defensive positions going into next season.
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By
Jon Machota and
Dane Brugler
Dec. 24, 2025 7:30 am EST
With the Dallas Cowboys officially eliminated from the playoffs, it’s a good time to check in with Dane Brugler,
The Athletic’s draft expert. The Cowboys have two first-round picks in April’s NFL Draft. They do not have second- or third-round picks because of their trades for wide receiver George Pickens and defensive tackle Quinnen Williams.
Upgrades are needed at several defensive areas. To get a better idea of what could be available for Dallas early in the draft, here’s the transcript from a recent conversation with Brugler.
What are the strengths and weaknesses of this draft class?
This class is unique in that it’s not top-heavy. I think you look at the top 10, top 15 and relative to other years, it’s not as strong at the top in terms of the blue-chip, high-end talent. But it’s a pretty decent draft in terms of depth throughout the first three rounds. It’s just that I don’t think there are the true difference-makers at the top. In terms of the strengths, which positions are stronger than others, linebacker is a really deep group this year. There are a lot of good seniors, and we’ll have plenty of underclassmen who throw their name in the ring as well. I think the tight end position is deep.
Before the season, I wasn’t overly excited about the wide receiver group, but it’s really turned around. With some guys emerging and other guys playing better, players develop. It’s going to be another pretty strong year for wide receivers. We could see as many as five or six go in the first round. It shouldn’t tail off too much after that.
Edge rusher would be the other one I’d have to mention. There are just a lot of names. If you want to include Ohio State’s Arvell Reese, the hybrid linebacker, in the edge group, he’s at the top. And then after that, you don’t have a true dominant guy. There’s no Myles Garrett or anything like that. But there are just a lot of guys. I think there’ll be a lot of different types of pass rushers who you can get at every point in the draft and feel like you’re getting a pretty good player.
With the Cowboys having two first-round picks and no picks in the second or third rounds, what are your thoughts on potentially drafting with one and using the other to trade back and add more picks?
Obviously, it depends on who’s on the board when you’re picking. I don’t think you can predetermine that kind of stuff, because it just depends. How many first-round grades are you going to have? Is it going to be 16? And are one of those guys going to still be on the board with your second first-round pick? Maybe. I think it all depends on how the board plays out. In most cases, I’m usually a fan of trading back. Give me more picks. Give me more chances to find good players. But I think the problem this year is: Who is moving up?
Depending on the quarterbacks, we might see a team move up for quarterbacks, but besides that, I don’t think we’re going to see a ton of movement because there aren’t those blue-chip guys at the top where it’s like, “OK, we have to come away with this guy.” I think teams are going to look at it and say, “If we get this guy, great. If not, alright, we have plenty of backup options.” I’m not sure they’re going to get a ton of calls unless you have a team like the Atlanta Falcons that is just willing to trade away first-round picks like they did last year to get back into the first round. So, you never rule it out. But I don’t think it’s going to be very easy to trade back in this draft, let’s put it that way.
Edge rusher is likely going to be a big need for the Cowboys. Rookie Donovan Ezeiruaku is the only defensive end they have under contract for their long-term future. Who are some top edge rushers in this class who could complement an undersized edge like Ezeiruaku?
If you’re looking for someone with size to balance out what you’re putting out there at that position, then you’re looking at T.J. Parker from Clemson. He’s 6-3, 265 pounds. He looks more like your prototypical edge defender. Zion Young from Missouri is 6-5, 255 pounds. He has really long arms. If size is going to be important with whichever edge rusher you take, those two names stand out. I look at both of them as more late first-round picks as opposed to guys you would take in the top 20.
It will be interesting because if they’re picking late in the first round and a guy like Cashius Howell is there from Texas A&M, who’s 6-2, 249 pounds, with short arms, he could be an option. And then there is R Mason Thomas from Oklahoma, who is 6-2, 249 pounds with just over 31-inch arms. Those guys are undersized, but you can make a case that the juice they offer is going to be hard to pass up. It could be interesting to see how they look at the size parameters and how that works for exactly what they’re targeting.
Trevon Diggs’ future in Dallas is uncertain, and DaRon Bland is dealing with another season-ending foot injury. Cornerback could be in play in Round 1. What players stand out to you at corner?
I don’t think there’s a corner in this draft who is a top-12 lock, by any means. In my first-round mock, I had the Cowboys taking Jermod McCoy from Tennessee, who, based off the 2024 tape, looked like a future top-10 pick. But we don’t have any tape from this year because of the knee injury from last January. We know the Cowboys are not scared to draft players coming off injury, but at least the timeline should work out. At the combine, he’ll be 13 months removed from the ACL injury, so you will have a good idea of the rehab and how it’s looking when the medical staff looks at the knee. They should have a very good idea of what’s going on with the player. So, there’s a little bit less guesswork with him compared to some of these other guys that are coming off injury, and you have to kind of figure out, we know he’s a good player, but how do we factor in the injury and where do we draft him? With McCoy, you get a Texas kid, 6-foot, 195 pounds. He was kind of overlooked, but he was a two-time state champion in track, a big-time baseball player. He went to Oregon State and had a really good freshman year, and then he transferred to Tennessee. He had a really good sophomore year last year and then missed this past season.
Mansoor Delane from LSU, 5-11, 190 pounds. His size is fine, but it’s not great. He has shorter arms. We’ll see what he runs in the 40-yard dash.
It’ll probably be somewhere in the 4.4s. But I don’t think another corner had better tape this year at the college level than Delane. He’s sticky in coverage, man or zone, it doesn’t matter. He has a real good feel for route combinations. He has a real good feel for what the offense is trying to do, so he can position himself and make plays on the ball. Those two guys are the ones who immediately come to mind, especially in the mid-first round.
If they wait until maybe the later first round, Avieon Terrell from Clemson. His size is not great, 5-10, 180-185 pounds. So you do worry about that, and that’s something that could take him off of a first-round board for some teams. He’s the brother of Falcons cornerback A.J. Terrell. He’s got a honey badger aura to him. Over the last two years combined, he has eight forced fumbles. He has a knack for making plays on the ball. He plays a lot bigger than he looks, and I think that’s important.
The middle linebacker position has been a disappointment for the Cowboys. Are there any players in this class who could immediately step in at middle linebacker?
Yeah. So, in my mock, I had McCoy with their first first-rounder and then CJ Allen from Georgia with the second first-rounder. Allen is not quite Baltimore Ravens All-Pro LB Roquan Smith, but he reminds me a lot of him. Maybe it’s the Georgia jersey, but they also play very similarly with their key and diagnose skills, the way they close to the football. The character stuff is off the charts. That kind of stuff matters, especially at that position. He’s a strong finisher as a tackler. You rarely see him miss tackles. His eyes just stayed glued to the ball. He can sift through blocks and make plays. He could be on that short list.
Sonny Styles from Ohio State is showing this year that he can play in the middle. But with a guy that is 6-4 and a half, 237 pounds, and is probably going to run in the 4.5s, he’s just a really unique player. You don’t see many linebackers that size, and this is only his second year at linebacker. He was a safety, and he’s gotten better each of the last two years. He was just outstanding this year for Ohio State. He reclassified, so even though he’s a senior, he just turned 21. He’s a young player, and the arrow is pointing up. He has yet to play his best football. If the Cowboys wanted him, they’d have to take him with their first of their two first-round picks.
The Cowboys have been doing some shuffling around on the offensive line to end the season, most notably playing standout left guard Tyler Smith at left tackle. And we all know Dallas isn’t shy about drafting offensive linemen in the first round. If they wanted to upgrade at offensive tackle, who would be the names to know in Round 1?
The one who really stands is Spencer Fano from Utah. He’s their right tackle. He did play left tackle before, so I think there is some flex there. But if he’s on the board in the mid-first and the Cowboys are picking, he’s probably at least part of the conversation. He’s got really good feet. You see the ability to move bodies in the run game. His play demeanor is outstanding. This is an offensive tackle class that I think has disappointed, but all 32 teams are looking for offensive tackle depth. I think we’re going to still see these guys go pretty high.
There’s no Joe Alt, but if a guy like Fano makes it out of the top 10, that’s someone the Cowboys are going to at least talk about because he’s a nice young piece that you feel good about stepping in now, but also what he’s going to grow into. That would be a very Cowboys pick if they did that.
